ACROSS THE NATION.

Nation's largest active wildfire consumes 333,890 acres

GRANTS PASS, OREGON — The nation's largest active wildfire grew to about 333,890 acres Saturday, making it Oregon's largest wildfire in over a century.

The blaze in Siskiyou National Forest and adjoining lands in southwestern Oregon and Northern California is larger than the 1933 Tillamook Fire, which burned 311,000 acres.

Officials said some fires may have covered more ground before the U.S. Forest Service was established until the 1890s.

The wildfire had at one point threatened about 17,000 people in several small towns in the Illinois Valley. Favorable weather limited the fire's advance near Agness in the Rogue River Canyon, but gusty wind and temperatures in the 90s gave the blaze new vigor in the hills and valleys east of Brookings near the California border.

Sheriff's deputies Friday were asking some Brookings-area residents to prepare to leave their homes immediately if notified. The fire was about 25 percent contained. A voluntary evacuation remained in effect at the southern tip of the fire in Gasquet, Calif., which has a population of about 800 people.